NiGHTS: Back to Earth

Actuality 8

Madeline looked through the mail for the day, when she saw the school's newspaper. "Helen," she called out, "would you like to see the school's newspaper?"

Helen was on her laptop while Nicholas was watching a movie. Helen's ears perked up when her mother called out to her. "Sure," she called back to her mother. Helen put her laptop down then asked Nicholas, "Will you watch this?"

Nicholas' eyes were glued to the television, "sure…." He said without much effort.

Helen walked over to the kitchen to grab the newsletter. She looked through the newsletter as she walked back to the television. "Hmm, looks like there's a series of games happening at my school," Helen had announced to Nicholas.

"Wouldn't it be cool if one of the prizes was a white or yellow Artificial Ideya?" Nicholas asked "it would be too much of a coincidence, but awesome."

"Um, there are prizes," Helen said, she looked through the list, "hey, there's a yellow Artificial Ideya for the school's poker tournament."

"The Ideya of Hope," Nicholas exclaimed, "I sure hope we win this, I mean, I always lose at this game."

Helen giggled a little, "Is that because you always play against Jackle?"

"Well, he is good," Nicholas observed as he rubbed his chin, "hey, maybe your classmates are worse than Jackle."

"I don't know," Helen shrugged, "I sure hope so." She began to rapidly type on her laptop.

"What are you doing on your computer there Helen?" Nicholas asked, with his eyes no long glued to the television, but to Helen's computer screen.

"I'm sending an Email to everyone about the tournament," said Helen, "if everyone enters the tournament, then it would higher our chances to win."

"Just like with the pageant," Nicholas exclaimed, "only that Will and Devin didn't help at all."

"Yeah, but I'm sure they will this time," said Helen.

xXx

The red and black nightmaren had other ideas from Helen and Nicholas. Will, Ren, Pammy, Joy, Devin and Bridget met at Helen's house to talk about the plan. "No, we need some people to watch the game. They will give us signs so we know if our opponents have good or bad hands."

"Ren, that's cheating," Will told Ren, "and I didn't think your shoplifting before did much good either."

"Stop being too moral mister," Ren had spoken to the dreamer, "Poker is a game of luck, so there are high chances that we won't get this Ideya. So we have to put skill into this."

"You probably got this idea from Jackle," Nicholas said, "It is unfortunate that Jackle isn't here, so we should at least try his strategy."

"Seriously Nicholas?" Helen asked, "You're actually siding with Ren?"

"Yeah, I want to get back to the Dream World as much as he does" said Nicholas, "so why not cheat our way there?"

"Wow, Nicholas, I'm surprised," Will said, but began to organize who will do what "okay who will stay out to give the players signs?"

"We need one watcher per player," said Ren, "but we need the good players."

"Well, I have a deck of cards;" said Helen, "let's see who will be playing by who is better at this game."

"Excuse me," said Bridget, "but how do you play poker?"

Ren slapped his forehead then rubbed his eyebrows with annoyance, "you mean, you don't know how to play poker?"

"I know War and Go Fish, but never Poker," said Bridget, "but can you teach me?"

"Fine…" said Ren, "we'll show you."

xXx

Everyone dropped their cards in amazement as they looked at Bridget's hand.

"What?" Bridget asked them all with full confusion.

"A full house, of two kings and three Jacks, is good Bridget," Devin explained to his sister, "That was the third game you've won in a row, I don't know if it's beginner's luck or something…but you're playing in the tournament."

"Yay," Bridget exclaimed, "I'm better than all of you!"

"It's nothing to boast about," Ren grumble, "Jackle is still better."

"Well, who else should play?" Helen asked, "Nicholas and Pammy had bad hands all three games…so they can watch and give signs."

"Yeah, I am pretty bad at this game," Nicholas laughed.

"Fine," said Pammy, "I can judge the hands very well."

"Well," Joy asked, "who else should watch the other players?"

"Not you," Devin told Joy, "you're actually okay at this game, how about me? I find myself awful at this game."

"Then so far there's Ren, Bridget, Will, Joy and I," Helen explained, "I guess we will play one more game? One with the worst hand doesn't get to play.

xXx

It ended up being Will that didn't get to play. He also wasn't that disappointed, he had found the game boring anyway, and didn't want to play a whole tournament, yet alone play the game a few times.

The day of the tournament had arrived; the football field was filled with tables with card decks on them. The group was greeted by a man with blue hair and blue eyes. "Well, feeling encouraged to gamble here today Will?"

"Not really Mr. Edwards," Will smiled humorously, "I'm just encouraging my friends to gamble."

Nicholas looked at this, "Mr. Edwards," he thought that it was enough of a coincidence to meet Claris, but also Elliot? He had to make sure, "your first name doesn't happen to be Elliot, does it?"

"Why…yes, it is Elliot," Elliot looked at Nicholas confused, "how did you know?"

"Well, let's just say I've seen you in a dream," Nicholas smiled, "so, where do we sign in?"

"Wait," Elliot said, "you're NiGHTS, aren't you?"

"Yes," Nicholas said, probably was too obvious about his clues, "you guessed right."

"Well, actually, Claris told me," Elliot laughed, "We haven't talked to each other in five years. Then one day she just called me and told me that you and Reala were on this planet. It was hard to believe but I see you two here and now."

"Well, it's to be expected that we're here, the prize is an Artificial Ideya," Ren told the boy who had defeated him 15 years ago, "I…I mean we need it to get back to the Dream World."

"Well, good luck," said Elliot, "you will really need it."

When they walked to the table, Nicholas asked Will, "How do you know Elliot?"

"He's the sports coach," Will said, "he is also the gym teacher at this school."

"And I guess he's not with Claris anymore, last time we've met they were together," Nicholas' eyes fell.

"Well, as my sister always says, 'relationship's don't last long for the young,'" Helen tried to brighten Nicholas up.

"I guess you're right," Nicholas smiled at Helen, "well, let's get this game over with!"

xXx

The rules of the tournament were quite simple: The one with the most poker chips wins. Disqualification came when a player had no chips. Ren looked at each player at his table, and then looked at his hands; it was pretty decent, since he had two aces. Then he looked at Pammy who nodded her head as she walked around the table. He took out three of his cards, he was in luck; he had gotten another two aces. He knew to bet high. Pammy gave him a smile, she nodded her head.

Joy wasn't doing as well. Nicholas shook his head, to sign that the hands were better than hers. She couldn't get a single match of the cards. She had folded many, many times.

"This is my first poker tournament, so go easy on me," said Bridget. She and Devin knew it was true, but she didn't have to say, "Go easy on me." She had beaten many people out of having no more chips; it wasn't funny, except in Bridget's eyes, she actually cracked up every time someone had no chips left. It really upset the other players; even Devin told Bridget many times that it wasn't a good idea. She didn't listen to her older brother, she just played.

Helen thought she was doing well, but Will kept on signaling her that the hands of her opponents were better. So she didn't take any risks. She would either bet low, or if her opponents bet too high, she would fold. Luck was not on her side that day.

xXx

Without his cards Jackle was as bored as could be. He talked to many nightmarens for such an extended period of time that they had gotten very annoyed at him. In which Jackle didn't care about, until Gillwing almost ate him. So instead of annoying the other Nightmarens, Jackle decided to tune up the Waking Watcher. He tuned it to Reala, and what he saw distressed him. It was Ren playing in a poker tournament, which was Jackle's favorite game.

This had angered Jackle so much that he flew right over to Wizeman, "you better give me my cards back or else!"

"I am almost finished with giving your deck its power," the Nightmare God had told Jackle, "at dusk I will give you back your deck."

xXx

There was a flaw with Ren's plan was that all four of the players were the very last of the tournament. Yet it wasn't exactly a flaw because they were going to win what they came for. Ren looked at his hand then said, "I bet everything."

Joy was about to say, "fold," but Ren stopped her with a look. Joy had suddenly known to not fold, if she needed to get this done quickly, so she had to act like she had a good hand. She pushed her remaining chips into the pile also.

Bridget grinned as she also put all of her chips into the pile. She never did keep a good poker face at all. Neither did she even know about poker faces.

Since the rules of the game said that everyone had to bet the same amount of chips, Helen also put in her full pile.

"Okay," Ren said, "Full house," he put out two Queens along with three twos.

"I have nothing," Joy said, she put up her hands.

"Um, well, I do have two threes," Helen said, "but Ren beats me on that."

Bridget began to crack up, "I beat you all, I have a Royal Flush," she showed her cards, and it was indeed a Royal Flush.

"How did you?" Reala stopped himself. This girl's luck was just amazing. Ren shook his head, "I guess you win."

"Yay," Bridget cheered, "I win! I'm so much better at this game than any of you." She began to rapidly laugh.

That was when Ren began to grumble, "Oh my Wizeman, we're a team; it doesn't really matter!"

"You've seriously said, 'Oh my Wizeman?'" Nicholas laughed, "Well, we better retrieve the prize."

Before Ren could say something about his 'oh my Wizeman' comment, Bridget said, "Okay!" She got up from her seat to ask Elliot for the prize.

"Looks like you have a talent there missy," Elliot told Bridget, "You're way better at Poker than at volleyball."

"Well, sports aren't my forte Mr. Edwards," Bridget said then took the yellow artificial Ideya from him, "but I may admit, I am better at Poker than at volleyball."

"Hey, Bridget," Helen called out, she took the other three of the other artificial Ideya from her bag, "can you give it to me?"

"Sure thing," said Bridget. She handed the stone to Helen.

"By the way, I've noticed that you guys cheated," Elliot whispered to Bridget, "but this Artifical Ideya is too important to you, so I won't tell anyone."

"Thank you Mr. Edwards," Bridget whispered back.

xXx

Joy waved goodbye to the group as the stopped at the train station. After everyone turned to turnstiles, Ren knew that this was his opportunity. He watched to see if no one was looking…if seemed as though everyone was embarked in conversation. Helen put her bag on the ground as they waited for the train. Ren immediately took the four Artificial Ideya, and then put it in his deep pockets. He was glad that no one noticed him; his plan was going smoothly.

xXx

Pammy woke up to the sound of the opening of her door, it was Reala. She wasn't very tired, which was why she sat up from her bed, "Reala? Are you okay? What's up?"

Reala took a deep breath, "Well, Pammy, I've been thinking…that, maybe I was wrong about what I did three years ago."

Pammy was confused, she knew very well about what happened three years ago; she was still upset about what came to be between both of them. It was just that she thought that Reala would never say that he was sorry. "Are you serious? You're actually sorry about this?"

"I am," Reala bowed his head with full grief, "will you forgive me?"

"Well….yeah," Pammy immediately said, with no second thought about her forgiveness.

Reala grabbed onto Pammy's hand then pulled her out of bed. "I even wondered why I was so immoral then, you are very beautiful."

Pammy blushed, she never remembered Reala complementing her in that matter before. Her mind was jumping for joy from the complement. A kiss on the check came from Reala's lips, which made Pammy even happier.

Only that Pammy was so dazzled, that she didn't notice that she was sinking into the ground caused by a paraloop.

Reala wrapped his arm around Pammy, which was when she noticed that she was sinking, into a black hole, "Reala, what's happening?"

That was when Reala began to laugh, "You're slowly devouring into Nightmare."

She was about to scream but Reala covered her mouth.

"Shut up, it will only make things worse," Reala hissed, "now be quiet until we get to Nightmare."

Pammy couldn't believe it; Reala just tricked her into having her going to Nightmare. She may not remember it so well, but she knew that it would scare the life out of her. All Pammy thought about was being twelve years old, and just learning that her first love, didn't love her back.

She also thought of NiGHTS saying, "You're that strange visitor that told Reala that you love him." She still had no memory of saying that. She had first met Reala in the Dream World, he probably just thought of her as any other Visitor…even if she did express her love for him. It was just all a trick, Reala wasn't sorry at all. He just wanted her for his own selfish desires, again.